So I might not have mentioned it, but this whole trip I've been making plans....not that these are real plans, but they are most certainly plans, more like the fun little fantasies that little girls make up. These include getting proposed to (by some mystery man I guess) on the bridge over the Aira Force waterfall, getting married in Kew Gardens or at Castle Howard and having my reception in York, while wearing a wedding dress I found in Edinburgh while my husband to be (still a mystery as to who) wears a kilt also from Edinburgh. All totally realistic right???? I think there was also something along the lines of my fantasy husband being british, I could really dig an english or scottish accent and his family owning lots of land in the country (preferably on a lake) and us going around living the perfect british life, drinking tea and going to theatre, etc. I'd of course drive either a land rover (the jeep of britain) or a mini cooper, or go old school and get the Morris Mini ( mr. Bean anyone??)

Well anyway, yesterday I added to my plan...I'm going to have cute little children with British accents and They will go to schools where they have to wear smart little uniforms. If i have boys...they WILL go to Eton...where I went yesterday. Seriously, nothing is cuter than the site of these high school aged boys running around town in coats with tails on them!!!! Seriously, they dress nicer for school than I've ever seen my friends dressed up for anything, even prom!!!!

If you can't tell, Windsor and Eton were pure delights. Windsor Castle was AMAZING! If I can manage it somehow, although this is asking a lot, I could be Queen...I could live at Windsor castle, pull up in my carriage and ride my horse through the grounds....I could so do it. We were kind of on our own yesterday, so I wandered around Windsor, grabbed a bite to eat and meandered around the Thames for awhile. It was nice to just walk and observe. I saw some kids doing crew, which was fun, I also found my way into a boatyard, crazy public footpath......That was cool as well. Then I went to Eton, traipsed around the museum there, watched a video on the daily life of Eton, wandered through the chapel there and called it a day.
Came back to London, and collected on my free ticket by going to see "Playing with Fire" at the National Theatre....good times. Then I braved the rain and wind (almost losing my umbrella!!!) and made it home...yay!!

Funny little things that made me happy: The St George Chapel at Windsor Castle: There was an orchestra of sorts warming up in there which totally added to the ambiance. Talking to one of the guides and him telling me all about the royal catacombs (I really want to go...see Henry VIII and everything!!!!) Seeing the cool dollhouse that has running water and real wine and a playable piano that gets tuned twice a year...getting a back rub on the train ride back, SUBWAY (it was my first time having subway across the ocean....it just reminded me of camp and our obsession with Subway...mmmm although they didn't have anything to make the sandwich that I usually get, but they did have 1.99 subs...thats muy cheap in london terms....), Going to the store Paperchase, because they have everything you can imagine and they have all this mad crazy paper and what not, I kind of wish I was crafty like leah and could make stuff like scrapbooks and cards, because this stuff was uber cute. I think it's reason enough for Leah to come and visit....hint hint!!!

I met with my tutor this morning and laid out more groundwork for my project...he says I need about two more weeks of research before I can start interviewing people...yay! I'm going to go hit up the town of London right now for some resources and what not, French's Theatre Bookshop, here I come!!!! Tonight: Either a show (The Big Life which is based off of Love's Labour Lost) or the Pub Social for all of the schools that our director directs....one would cost me around £10, the other: free food and whatever I spend on drinks...which won't be much.....hmmm......these are times that try women's souls....okay not really.

Tomorrow holds a lot of promise as well: we're shipping off bright and early (too early again....8 o clock eegad!) to go to Breacon (wales!), Bath (Roman??), and Stonehenge (no one knows.....) Highlights of this trip are looking to be a lovely half day of horseback riding (putting those Y-Camp skills to work) and overall coolness. I'm sure I will have lots of stories to tell and lots of pictures taken.

Well I'm off to go conquer the world. Starting with London. Bye!

Okay...i just totally had an awesome night and the thing was it was completely me. It was something I wanted to do, I got there by myself, I met people on my own and I did it all by myself. I know this sounds weird but up until this point I'd been doing a lot of stuff with the group. Even when I did stuff on my own (like the ghostwalk that I got stood up for..) there were people waiting for me afterwards and it started out as a group planning event. What did i do you may ask? Went on a London Walk....i know, how touristy.
Today before it got dark wasn't very eventful. We had a bunch of meetings at school and talked about our trips to Windsor and Eton (tomorrow) and to Bath, Breacon, and Stonehenge (this weekend). There were some study tour reports and all that jazz. Then we watched the movie Northanger Abbey....sorry Jane Austen, I still don't like you.....After that Ryan (the director of DU in London) came and was like here are your Oyster cards for the tube and by the way I have these three tickets to the theatre tomorrow anybody want them? Well my hand shot up, so tomorrow I'll be heading down to the National Theatre....for free...if only I could do this all the time...i need more free theatre!!!! Anyway...after that Stefanie and I headed back to the flat for some lunch. We went crazy shopping at Tesco the other day, so we were well fed. After that I decided to get domestic and make a peach cobbler....so i did....and it was delicious. Then I got lazy and took a nap...making up for all that bus sleeping on the trip this weekend.
After that I decided to get myself out of bed and go on one of these London Walks. I'm saving the ghost walk and the jack the ripper walks for my parents, so I decided to go on the Historic Pub walk, supposedly finding hidden pubs....all the pubs happened to be on main streets however. Nevertheless it was wonderfully historic and the tourguide was superbly hyperactive just like me. We got along quite well. He told me that I was a traveller, not a tourist, which made me feel good. He said that the difference between a tourist and a traveller is that a tourist just checks things off as being done and takes some pictures, a traveller observes and lets the area change them in a little way. Very philosophical, but I appreciated. The pubs that we went to were very cool though, one of them was right next to the alleged home of Sweeney Todd, everyone's favorite demon barber (i swear he's been haunting my trip, everywhere I go there's something about Sweeney Todd!) it was actually an old bank which was quite cool. Most of the places we went were in the financial/law district so there were lots of cute boys in suits...yay!
Afterwards I sat and talked in the last pub to these cute older ladies from the Lake District, where I had just been. They were so nice and we just sat and talked and talked until they kicked us out. It was really nice conversation and what they had to say was very interesting, we talked about everything from tea to christmas to pride and prejudice.....afterwards they were so cute and were very adament that I knew I how I was getting home. It was nice because they were so concerned. I got home (well...school first I guess, because thats where I am>...) quite safely, by actually knowing my way around the city...i know..its weird. On my way back there were all of these kids coming out of this building soaking wet and shivering...I in my new sense of boldness and confidence to talk to people (for some reason I was afraid to in London...don't ask me why...) I asked one of these shivering kids what they were up to. Answer: FOAM Party....that's it, i'm going to find one of those and go...and bring a towel. Anyway, I'm going to go because i have to be up dreadfully early so I can go trompse around and then go to some theatre...yay!
PS...I think I solved the random people commenting thing. If you haven't noticed I get a lot of Comment Spam as Leah calls it. I think you have to do one extra step but it should still be easy to comment. So please do so I know that i'm loved and what not. Better yet you can send me a package with pretzels and sneaker cleaner...two things i'm in desperate need of....and twizzlers! And tootsie rollls!!!! All right bye!
-S

Just so you know, i've reached the point of photo site #5....address coming soon. Check out what I added to number 4 while you're waiting.

Also as a note to the pictures, I started playing around with the different settings of my camera, AKA exposure times and what not, tell me what you think. The nighttime and the darker ones are the ones that need to be addressed most i guess.

All right, two cities down, one more area to go. I say area because well, theres a lot going on in the Lake District. After leaving Edinburgh we arrived in Pooley Bridge, a tiny little town with not much going on besides a row of B&Bs where we were staying, apparently we were staying in 2 different ones, everyone except the bus driver and 2 people in one and then the bus driver and 2 lucky students in the other. Well...who were those lucky people to stay in a different B & B? Why me and stefanie of course. No worries though, we had the bus driver down the hall from us, which meant the bus was parked at our place, which meant that everyone had to walk to meet up with us whenever we went anywhere....convenience!!!! Upon getting there Ryan, our director, said that whoever wanted to could go on a hike with him up to the Aira Force Waterfalls. What a hike!!! It was massively uphill and we were on asphalt for quite awhile and then we meandered through a bunch of sheep pastures for over 5 miles. Suddenly we were in the woods and more suddenly that that there was a creek with all of these waterfalls. We all jumped the creek and played around on the rocks and took pictures and what not...good times. The funny part is we all thought that those were the waterfall......No way Jose. The real waterfall was down aways and it was amazing, it was huge and the pressure it was coming down at was amazing. Not to mention the weather we hiked up in was Amazing!!! We got to view it from the top and the bottom and it was simply gorgeous..... definately worth the hike to get there. It might have edged out Arthur's Seat for most gorgeous. After that we all hiked back to where the bus was waiting for us (it had dropped of some people who wanted to see the waterfall but didn't want to hike.....wimps...). We went back, had a quick shower and hopped on the bus to go into town. There is one of two pubs in the town of Pooley Bridge and we went to one of them, apparently the more popular one because it was packed. A saturday night in Pooley Bridge....nothing better to do than go to the Pub. Good thing we had reservations. I had some delicious soup and we chatted it up and had a great time. Afterwards Stefanie and I, with all intentions of doing our homework went down to the bar/parlour area of the bed and breakfast. It resembled a living room and we thought it would be a nice place to do homework. We found three other guests sitting there and talking, so we joined in. It was really nice talking to them and we made fun of each other's ways of driving and the layouts of our roads....smashing!
The next morning, we met up and went to Castlerigg Stone circle, a neolithic stone circle that is said to be older than stonehenge!!! It was awesome......very cool. It was funny because apparently it's also used as a pasture, because in the same field as these ancient stones is a herd of sheep. I wrote a song memorializing the occaision, it's called "Sheep Poo" look for it in record stores soon. After that we ventured off to Dove Cottage, home of William Wordsworth, the poet. The cottage was quite quaint, and warm which was nice, because by this time, it had started to rain. We learned all about William's life at dove cottage, read some poems and then were set loose on the town of Grasmere. It was a gorgeous town and every other store was an outdoor clothing/camping store, which was nice. What was not nice was the absence of ATMs or Credit Card worthy restaurants. I was hungry and had no cash, I had flashbacks to my biking trip this summer where I was stranded in towns that didn't know what a Debit card was. I finally found a place that accepted credit cards and sat down and had tea and soup with some charming old ladies. After shopping for a little bit I met up with the group and we headed to "the big city", of Kesswick. which isn't really a big city, but there was certainly more to do than Pooley Bridge or Grasmere. Ryan proposed another hike, promising that this would be less strenuous than yesterday....well he lied. It started off easily enough, walking right along the lake. At Frisr's Crag I decided to get adventurous and climb down some rocks to get closer to the water. Well I got close enough...I slipped and in my foot went.....soaking up to about my knee. Well we continued on the hike, me half my feet wet and muddy. We kind of got lost in a parking lot and decided to blaze our own trail, pretty much straight up this very large bluff. It was certainly a workout, but worth the work in the view we got. All the way up we were along a waterfall which trickled down the mountain. Turning around as we ascended lent itself to a very pretty view of the lake and the mountains behind it....gorgeous. We rested a bit in a pasture of sorts, sheep on the hills in a very funny sight by the way. We finally made our way to the summit and holy man what a view!!!!!!!!!! You could see way off in the distance the little town of Kesswick, you could see 2 of the lakes and just beautiful amazing scenery. We all had a celebratory swig of whiskey and made our way down the hill another way, this way going down what appeared to be an ancient slip and slide......or at least thats what I mistook it for as i planted my butt on the ground ever so gracefully. The walk back was scenic and met a shetland pony who was friendly enough to come close to us and let us pet his nose, i had flashbacks to this summer and working in the horse barn with the horses...loved it, won't ever do it again though!!! Anyway....The pony actually just wanted to scratch its butt on the fence as we discovered as it turned around and offered us another view of the countryside....his bum!!! We wandered into town looking for vittles and found them to be delicious....mmmmm filling pub grub. Cheap too! After that we called it a day in Kesswick and headed back to our humble B & Bs. The whole group met up to hang out in the parlor of the other b and b and play a game of psychologist.....fun times. Afterwards, Stefanie and I had to walk down the lane to our bed and breakfast, in the dark, in the middle of nowhere. Stefanie wasn't too keen on this idea, so she coerced Joe, one of the boys on the trip to walk us home.....we made it safely and I fell straight into bed....only to be woken up by Ryan knocking on our door, wondering if we were going to get up for breakfast....we weren't. The sleep was too good and the bed was too warm and cozy. After that we put our stuff on the bus, and embarked on a 7 hour journey back to London. Thus ending our lovely study tour.

Well....now this brings us to the Edinburgh section of the trip. As you may or may not know, Edinburgh is in Scotland, where if its not scottish...its CRAP!
I started my stay off right and scottish with a heaping portion of: HAGGIS!! the national dish. I braved and it was delicious. This was how the food was arranged: the haggis was in a sort of patty type thing on top of which which were nips or neeps and then on top of that was mashed pototoes, they were all in a tower that somewhat resembled that tower in "close encounters of the third kind, all topped with a whiskey sauce because after all we are in Scotland. I also discovered a new drink that is slightly up there in the old lady scale: Baileys and Hot Chocolate....mmmmmm. I got it because everyone thought that I deserved a drink after braving the Haggis.
After that we wandered around the city exploring and getting lost. We wandered and looked at all of the touristy things and then got solicited by a monk trying to sell a monk rock band cd and to get our money. We didn't get the money but he made us take a book. I don't think i'll convert to Hare Krishna anytime soon though, sorry.
After that we all decided that we were going to meet up for a literary pub tour where they went around and talked about Edinburgh's writers, I was stoked about going and Brian got directions for all of us and we all agreed to meet up......little did we know, the directions were wrong and there was a massive scramble to find the place and each other and so we missed it. Oh well, thats when I wasted some time in a little internet cafe and updated you last. After that we all agreed we were going to meet up to go on a ghost tour of Edinburgh. Well it was just me and Niki walking around and so we go to the rendevous point and no one is there, the tourguide comes and still no friends, the tour moves and we havent heard from them. On the way to the cemetary, Niki decides that she's too scared and says that she'll meet me at the pub afterwards. Leaving me alone with a bunch of strangers, wandering around a graveyard....kind of scary.
The tour was of Grey Frier's Cemetary. The name's famous because of the story of Grey Frier's Bobby, the story of this little dog who came and sat on his master's grave. Our tourguide said the story was a load of crap....which started off the evening well. We also learned about the graverobbers who provided the University of Edinburgh with fresh cadavers and then delved into murder. The punishiment for the one who got caught was to use his body for science and his hand was made into a business card holder that I had since earlier in in the day!!!! How gross is that???? The finale of the tour was getting locked into the Black Mauseleum in the Coventor's Prison of the cemetary. It's supposedly home of the Mackenzie Poltergeist and supposedly off this stuff happened. Well nothing happened that night and I was disappointed. Nothing except a guy jumping out in a mask at the end of the day. Whoot. After that I met up with everybody who missed it, apparently they were like 10 minutes late and tried calling my cell phone and what not, crazy scottish no service. Anyway, we sat in the pub listening to Scots play american music (Man of Constant Sorrow...) and eating peanuts.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast in a large kitchen where it felt like we were all part of a family gathering for family breakfast, how quaint. That day we went to the Hollyroodhouse Palace, where the royals stay when they are in Scotland. A little disappointing as there were only a few rooms open to observe. After that...we went to: THE CASTLE! Edinburgh Castle that is. It is quite dark and scary looming all over town as it does. Anyway, we went up there, and apparently they shoot off a cannon at 1 oclock, which is actually pretty cool, they do it very ceremoniously. After that we wandered around for a little bit, saw the scottish crown jewels, met some Americans, and had tea.....and Scones. Seriously, I'm going to have scone withdrawl. After that we went to the museum of Childhood where they are all these crazy old toys and what not, including a Sweeney Todd amusement (he was the demon barber of Fleeet Street.) You put 10p in and the lights came on and you watch sweeney Todd murder someone and then get baked into a pie...a Great Children's Toy!!!! Post that, Stefanie and I decided to scale Arthur's Seat which is this huge bluff/volcano thing on the edge of town where apparently King Arthur would go to watch the seas. It was amazing, horribly windy but amazing. At the top of the main hill we met some American students and we shared the view, you could see the entire town and the sea. I took some Panoramic Video of the top, so you'll all have to see that when I get back stateside. It was simply breathtaking. I literally cried because the view was so amazing. On the way up we saw people mountain biking and bouncing from rock to rock, we also someone mountain unicycling, which was crazy. There were also people bouldering, which is like rock climbing but over not up, if that makes sense. I decided to climb up some rocks and put my camp skills to use......later I found a sign telling me not to do that,oh well.....
After that amazing experience, Stefanie and I went and warmed ourselves up with some Pub Grub, good ol' Fish and Chips will fill you up everytime. Upon reading the menu however, we discovered that apparently....the Pub was Haunted....geez what on this trip isn't haunted????
After that we headed on home, singing rounds the whole way....which was suprising because well, we really didnt have anything to drink. I think we were just that high off of our awesome experience. Good times. I most certainly slept like a baby after that long hike, in my nice warm B & B bed.
The next morning we woke up and got on our coach and headed out of lovely Edinburgh, thus concluding the Scottish leg of the trip.....

Okay, so i have a lot of ground I need to cover because well...i've been away from this lovely thing called the internet and I want to keep you all abreast as to what i've been doing. So I'm going to break areas that i visited this past week into different digestable entries, both for mine and yours sanity. When I last left you a speed version of an entry I was in Edinburgh telling you about York. So York I shall begin:
So the ghost tour we went on in York was crazy. We went to the site of the world's oldest ghosts: Roman soldiers that walk along a Roman road that goes through the Treasurer's House right by the Minster (you might have seen shows on it...I know I have!!), we also went to the Minster and heard about a ghost dog trapped in the walls...spooky. There was a plethora of stories about all sorts of gruesome forms of torture and what not, very historical. The worst was the story about the children's workhouse where children were buried in the floorboard. The tax office was also haunted but are tourguide said that they deserved to be haunted.
One of the stops on the tour was this house that was claimed to have been the home of St. Margaret Clitherow, The "pearl of York". She was crushed to death for her faith. Well as she was a martyr someone thought to cut off her hand as a relic. This hand still exists, and you know where it is kept? The Bar Convent!! Where I was staying. Thats right, right down the hall from my small doored living space, stored in a little cabinent was: A SEVERED HAND!!!! And it was kind of cool, I got to see it....Sr. Agatha was oh so kind to bring it out for us right after breakfast.
After our adventure with the uncorrupted limbs of saints we went on more.
After the Ghost tour we walked spooked outedly to our B and B and went to bed.
The next day we went to Fountain's Abbey which are the ruins of quite a prosperous Abbey for cistertian monks.It was so weird to walk into the nave of the chapel and be standing in grass with no roof over head. The place was huge and old (we walked over an 800 year old bridge!!!). The grounds of the place were amazing....there was a river running right through the whole thing and there were water gardens and a mill and the weather could not have been better. Our tour guide was this cute old gentleman who got so excited about everything, he was running and hopping around and pointing out things. He was cool. While we had free time, a group of us walked down the river and went through one of the tunnels that the river went through, it was fun to walk from rock to rock through a tunnel. Yay for being a kid.
That night we went to Pizza Hut (I know, that was a cultural experience) we got the feast!!! MMMMMmmmmm. After that we went to a pub that had accoustic music and never closed. Listening to british guys play american pie is hilarious!. Anyway, i tried a bitter because I've been told to lay off of the cider, it was good and smooth, but i have not yet acquired a taste for beer....sorry.
The next day we went to Castle Howard which is situated on 10000 acres of gardens and woods....they were filming Garfield 2 when we went. So look for me when it comes out. I'm walking in front of the house i'm sure. Castle Howard is where they filmed the movie "Brideshead Revisited" in case you were wondering, it was Brideshead. I've never seen it, but I might have to after being there. The place was gorgeous!!!!! Stefanie and I got lost in the woods after coming back from the temple of the four winds. oh well, we made it in time to have tea on the lawn and get back in time. I did get to go to a glass blowing museum...the was pretty stellar.
Drawback of the visit to Castle Howard: My bookbag broke....I had just been telling stefanie how much i liked having my bag and how convenient it was (its a one shouldered backpack) and then it just broke....the zipper's completely trashed......a moment of silence please for the loss of a good friend.....
Tidbits about York that also happened: Open Mic Night where this horrendous girl decided to perform, Getting kicked out of Borders a half an hour before closing, Sitting on the lawn of the York Museum watching a drunk get arrested by the police in the middle of the day, the York museum in general, watching little kids learn crew/rowing on the river, good times all around in York.
Well thus concludes the York section of the Study tour.

Okay, I know I haven't written in awhile, but thats because well folks, I've been and still am out of the London area. When I last left you I was still in London, but the days that I didn't update consisted of me doing homework, lots and lots of homework...But i mean, that's the reason I'm here isn't it? Anyway...Sunday I did go down to the Lord Mayor's Thames River Festival. That was really cool and there were fireworks, even if they were only 4 minutes long (America does waaayyy better fireworks) Now I have to wait until November 5th to get my next dose of the gunpowder (Guy Fawkes anyone???). Anyway, after the fireworks the crew headed back to our lovely home and started packing. Stefanie and I however were entranced by the wonder that is Bollywood movies and stayed up watching the Best Movie ever: MAIN HOON NA... if anyone wants to find it and buy it for me for Christmas (or the soundtrack) I would love them forever!!! too bad it didn't get over until 5 am. Luckily we packed during it.
Bright and early on Monday morning (tooo bright and early for me and stefanie apparently-we slept through our alarm!!!) we all loaded up unto a coach and headed to York. There we checked into our lodgings:A CONVENT. Yes mom, your dreams of me becoming a nun almost came true. I stayed in a convent. All of the rooms had Saints names instead of numbers...I was in St. Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. Goodtimes. Also, apparently nuns are extremely vertically challenged because I had to duck everytime I went into a door and I almost hit my head on the ceiling a couple of times....crazy!!!
After that we set off on a walking tour with the sweet old lady as our tour guide, We saw some roman ruins and all sorts of places and The York Minster which was very cool! After that Stefanie and I went out to eat and then went on a GHOST TOUR.
Appparently York is the most haunted city in the world......More on that later though. I'm in an internet cafe in Edinburgh right now and my time is up. BYE!!!

I know you guys are sick of looking at pictures of me, but i've been taking a lot.....so many that I had to start ANOTHER photobucket site (it's gotten to the point where I've had to start making up e-mail addresses!) that one can be found at:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b4/duinlondon4/
Tomorrow i have my first meeting with my tutor for my project. I have to somehow find where im going tomorrow morning...should be interesting. Then I'm meeting up with some people that I met from FSU so I can show them the ISH....Should be good times. Who knows what will happen after that? I bought chocolate cake mix so perhaps I will bake that and then go see a show.

A note about the FSU computer lab which is my base of operations: Its full of college students. Therefore at any given moment you can look at a computer screen and they will be at: Facebook, Myspace, Xanga, Livejournal, or any assortment of E-Mail sites. Like thats all these computers are good for. (I have no room to talk, i do the exact same thing!!!) These two guys next to me are talking about how hot this girl on the internet is and its hilarious!!!!

Anyway....about my day: We went to Kew Gardens. Originally it was going to be me, stefanie, lail and melanie. Lail and melanie came to the door right as stefanie was getting into the shower and they wanted to leave right away so it ended up being two groups going. That place is huge!!! and beautiful. Unfortunately I got a lesson in English weather as it was rainy and gray...or grey as they would spell. Right when we got there, we sought refuge in the palm house. It's this huge victorian green house with all sorts of cool plants, mainly, you guessed it...palm trees. But all sorts of different kinds. You could also walk up and around them, which was quite a sight to see. Underneath that whole complex was a marine exhibit with seaweed and other stuff.
After the palm house we went on a ride on "The kew explorer" which is a tour of sorts on a little train/car thing. In front of us, there was the cutest little kid who was playing peeka boo with me the whole time we were waiting to start...darling...After that we walked around the massive grounds....There was a massive flagpole made out of a singular trunk of a douglas fir, there is a pagoda, all sorts of houses containing plants and just gorgeous gardens. There are also lots of trees, including those trees that are quite conducive to climbing. There are pictures of all that fun goodness. I think i scared Stefanie when I kind of slipped and saved myself, but all in all ended up falling out the tree....completely unscathed though...thats skill. We also watched a video on this glass designer who created a ton of sculptures all around the gardens. Those sculptures were beautiful and also really made me want to be an artist.....glass blowing looks kind of fun..maybe i can take some classes or something....
Our final quest for the night was to try and find the world's largest compost heap. I was going to take a picture for my mom (the self-proclaimed queen of compost) but our search was unfruitful. Somewhere on the grounds of Kew Gardens is the worlds largest compost heap (so our tour said...) But seeing as it was closing soon, i was unable to find it. Oh well...
So that was pretty much my day.....i really think the pictures will best convey what its like.
This weekend is the River Thames Festival and they are having a circus!!!! i'm really excited. plus theres going to be swing dancing.....and I think i'm going to the Jane Austen festival with Stefanie. I'm not a huge fan of miss austen but i enjoy a good festival...and stef needs someone to go with her.
Cheers!

Okay.....so I forgot to put the site for the new picture site, Here it is:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b54/duinlondon3/

go there and partake in photos galore and don't forget about:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b285/duinlondon2/

or:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b324/DUinLondon/

In other random news:
3 Songs that have been in my head and why:
1. Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners Why: Because walking back from the Globe last night there were some very drunk girls with very little clothes on getting out of a limo singing it...needless to say, we sang it all the way home....and i had to explain it's meaning to stefanie.

2. Careless Whisper by George Michael Why: There was a girl with a guitar at Canterbury that sang it.....both times I saw her she was singing it.....and these times were quite a bit spaced out but not enough to justify it being sung/played again. Oh george michael...you sound so serious when being played on accoustic guitar.

3. You can ring my bell by I don't remember Why: Allison was singing it as we got off the train and it's been in my head ever since...i have infected everyone who has come within a 3 feet radius of me with my singing of it. Catchiest Song EVER!!!!

Thats it
Cheers!

Well hello....few random notes first and then what i've been up to:
-I forgot to tell you about the pirate Stefanie and I encountered in Brighton. We were walking down the sidewalk and there was a gentleman with an eye patch wearing a robe. Stefanie and I were very confused until we walked on further and discovered: The Nude Beach. Yes that's right, said pirate was departing from swimming in buff. There are pictures of me at the beach (no not that kind!!! I'm fully clothed thank you very much!) Actually...there's only one of me and the rest are of the signage that accompanied such a place.
-Speaking of pictures, I apparently have been taking a lot. So much that I filled up another photobucket album and have since started a new one....at least I'll have a lot to remember this trip by. So you need to see the ones i added today to photobucket 2 and the new album at:

To see what i've been up to.
-Speaking of other things that involve people that read this (katie kinney and my mom most specifically) but really anyone who wants to leave me a comment...i fixed it so you should be able to post a comment on this without having to jump through the hoops of setting up an account and what not...go ahead....try it......i dare you....leave me a comment. Someday i'm going to do a comment roll call to see who's actually reading this....something to the effect of: if you read this leave me a comment so I know you exist....someday.

Finally: The part that I'm sure keeps you guys up in anticipation, wondering what I happened to do today (sorry...i've become quite smarmy here...don't know why). Anyways. This morning, there was a mad dash to get ready, get on the tube and meet up with everyone at Charing Cross station to go on our trip. Just a note: Charing Cross is kind of a big station and there are lots of entrances and exits and this task of finding everyone was kind of hard. Needless to say: we were a little (ten minutes) late. no worries, we hopped on the National Rail and were on our way to Canterbury. Once getting to the fine town of Canterbury we were let loose to wander the city for an hour, and wander I did. Me, stef and Allison our chaperone (who's only a year older than us and super rad) wandered around and enjoyed Pasties ( i love 'em) and Crepes (which rivaled my mothers, but only because they were chocked full of Nutella and Bananas and you can't mess with Nutella....) We found some cute little shops and wandered around the streets....Then we met every body and moved onto the cathedral. This place was beautiful. I still think westminster abbey had it beat, but this place has quite the history. A history which we learned about from a video complete with lots of pillaging and burning scenes. After that we met up with our tour guide (i'm convinced that the only tour guides that exist in England are either scholarly old gentlemen or sweet little old ladies) Ours fell into the former category. he even had a cane. This he had because his knee got hit with shrapnel from a bonfire last week...the details were shady. Anyway we took a tour that lasted about 2 hours wrapping all around the cathedral, each stop sitting down (which was nice, because i have a tendency to get faint in churches...I most certainly did at Westminster). It was really cool seeing the transition from Norman to Gothic architecture as well as going into the crypt and seeing where Thomas Beckett was murdered. The memorial is quite striking with its deadly looking swords and what not. We also saw the black prince's tomb...again..what is it with Cathedrals being full of dead people?!? Anyway, it was lots of good fun. Afterwards we had more time to kill around town so more shopping..this time vintage shops. After that we had to wait for all these people and almost missed our train. Good thing we didn't because i think that it was quite possibly one of the most hilarious rides ever.

The Train:
So we finally get onto the train going back to London and all seems well and good. Allison and I are sitting in this seat when all of a sudden this little British boy asks: are you American? and we're like yes. Are you from Chicago? welll kind of.... (i've just been saying i'm from Chicago because it's a whole lot easier than trying to explain where I'm actually from to someone who has no idea about AMerica, even those that do know it struggle with where i live) This cheeky little boy had some of the cutest insights about America, he said he wanted an American Accenct until we told him that Americans want british accents and that if he ever came to America he would be swarmed by girls (he liked this a lot!!) Then he was asking where he should go, then he asked where he could find girls with big boobs!!!! This boy was only 13!!! It was crazy. Sitting by him was this very attractive Mancunian (as in from Manchester...) who was like, oh you're American...i'm afraid of Americans... To which I replied "okay David Bowie" That thoroughly impressed him that I was down with the former Ziggy Stardust.....He was talking about all of the places that he lived and what not and was a very nice young boy who runs a bar in Manchester. I'll have to look him up while i'm there....
After that, things had settled down abit until the girls in front of us starting screaming and jumping out of their seats...apparently there had been a bee...a big bumble bee...all of us jumped around trying to kill it much to the delight of the Britons in the carriage with us. They kept saying "good sport!!!"and what not.....i do believe i heard a "jolly good" in there somewhere. After that i kind of fell asleep sprawled out over three seats and awoke with a backpack print in my cheek...oh well.

After that it was decided that we should see a show. I was too late to go see "The Tempest" alas...another time. So we decided to go see Stomp! I've always wanted to go, what with me being a percussionist all those years and what not. We got really cheap and really good standby seats (like 4th row) IT WAS AMAZING!!!! Really, i mean i could go on and on about how fun it was. I just wanted to tget out of my seat and dance but I was too in awe of what they were doing with household objects......it was mad crazy. On the way home, stefanie and I annoyed Joe and Lail with our recreation of everything we saw, complete with lots of stamping, clapping and snapping. We're going to put something together for the talent show 2nd semester at DU...its going to be called Steph(f)omp...get it? combining our names? We could just refer to ourselves as the Stephanies....thats what everyone else does..... Anyway Stomp= Greatness!!!!! It was a percussion dream come true.

Tomorrow: Kew Gardens, and possibly the Sherlock Holmes museum.
Monday: I'm off to Scotland!!!!!

Well I have just returned from being a groundling at The Globe. Seriously, it was like a theatre dream come true. I mean, anyone who's involved with theatre has to have a reverence for that place (even if this one is just a reproduction). Despite the having to stand through 3 hours of the Bard's words, the experience was amazing. Half of our group left 20 minutes into it and the rest at intermission leaving me and Stefanie and the two military school boys victorious in our battle against fatigue and the Queen's English. It was well worth it. We went to see "A Winter's Tale" and it was amazing. The second half was significantly more entertaining and it certainly had all the workings of a Shakespeare work what with the intrigue, lost children, disguises, and lots of humor. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I would have faced quite a heckling from those onstage (it happened¬ but not to me!). In fact I enjoyed it so much, I think I might go see "The Tempest" there tomorrow...get the good leg exercise and what not....Plus, its the Junior Year Seminar Common Text...so when we discuss it in class I can be all hoity-toity and be like...well when I saw this show at the Globe, you know, the place where Shakespeare intended it to be performed...blah blah blah. That's me, always looking for ways to appear better than everyone else....hehe.
Tomorrow prior to my possible Globe Trotting (get it...its the Globe Theatre....hahaha....) We're meeting bright and early...that could serve to be a bit tricky...to take a Train to Canterbury and see Thomas a Beckett.....or at least see where he was martyred.....something everyone wants to do. So I guess tomorrow I'm making a medieval-esque pilgrimage...maybe I can pick up some indulgences on the way...Perhaps after this, Chaucer can write some tales about my adventures...in Olde English or something to that effect.
Well it is off to home where Stefanie and I shall indulge (haha..indulgences...) in some tea (PG Tips.....with milk and sugar...huzzah!!) and some of our lovely discovery known as Jaffa Cakes, they're cheap, they;re good, and they are the perfect compliment to tea.
That last paragraph was to serve as my food paragraph for this entry because it seems that every entry I've made has seemed to had some sort of food focus...seeing as all I've eaten today has been bread, butter, and apples....Jaffa cakes seemed to be the most fitting and exciting. For those of you who don't know. They aren't actually cakes persay...more like little cookies that are semi-spongey. They have a dollop of orange something or other in the center and then are filled with chocolate. You can buy a box for something like 48p at your local Tesco.
Cheers!

Hello lovelies!
So yesterday we took a trip on the tube to visit another American university over here in London. Ithaca College has a center, much like the one Dominican is studying at, basically a really nice old town house or something converted to a school....it makes for a comfortable atmosphere, and lots of stairs....lots of narrow little stairs....I'm getting quite adept as not taking up as much space as I used to. It's really a necessary skill here because everythings about 3/4 the size of their american counterparts. No complaining here though, they are just being more efficient with their space....Rock on England.
The reasoning for going to Ithaca College in London? For a lovely lecture on a mass amount of British History in a small amount of time. I learned all about the different invading groups of England, then all about the world of england and its rulers from 1066 (the last successful invasion) to 1215 (the signing of the Magna Carta).....good times.
We also got to meet 3 people that will kind of be piggybacking on a lot of the Dominican programs. Two of them go to Norrich (or something to that effect) College, a military school, and one of them goes to Illinois College, she's originally from Fulton and now lives in Byron so she and I were talking Quad Cities.....yay!! Not even Dominican people (other than Davenport Grant) know about the QCA.
After that, we did some grocery shopping, I love Tesco!!! Made some dinner and got ready for the fun of the Wine and Cheese party that the girl's triple was hosting. Stefanie and I brought White Stilton with Apricots and Brie, I know, we're high class. After that a handful of us went to a couple pubs where we met some Aussies, a guy from Mozambique/Toledo, Ohio, and some transplanted Americans. You'd be suprised how hard it is to actually meet Londoners. After that we went dancing in Leiscester Square. All in all a good night.
This morning, I woke up a little late and had half an hour to get ready and be at FSU. Once getting here (and not having any laundry, because its all in the wash right now!) I found I was the first person here, and I was right on time...crazy tardy Dominicans. Anyway, we watched "A Lion in Winter" and called it a day. Tonight: "A Winter's Tale" (i know...so much Winter!!!) at the Globe Theatre. We're in the pit, so it should be interesting....like a rock concert but with shakespeare. Well...i'm going to go now.....so much to do in the fine city.
Hope you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoying doing all of the stuff and then writing about it.

Well here we go again....My second day of real London classes, I'm just chilling in the computer lab waiting for class to start, and thought I would update you on the spectacular time I had yesterday (but really, isn't every day I've had here spectacular? I think so...) So yesterday, Stefanie and I decided to leave the city of London for a little excursion to Brighton. Brighton is like a little seaside resortish town...so we thought it might be fun. Our main reason for going was the Royal Pavilion, this extravagant (if not at times, tacky) palace built by George IV, he was a little crazy. The outside was an attempt at recreating an Indian palace, but the architect had never actually been to India....Slightly a problem. It was quite gorgeous though on the outside. The inside however was done up in a Chinese motif. Although the interior decorator had never been to china. It was quite hilarious...but seriously stunning at points. The banqueting hall had a massive 9 m high, ton weighing glass chandelier that was suspended by this huge dragon. The whole place is most certainly a site to see. Afterwards we had a delightful tea in the tea room of the pavilion and got suprised because they were running a special- so it was on sale...go us. After that we walked down to the shore and the Brighton Pier which reaked of carnival atmosphere....we had a good round on the bumper cars (which had their steering wheels on the reverse side!!!) and then walked along the beach. It was kind of gray and cloudy out so we didn't go swimming but we did dip our feet in, just to say we did. The whole beach is made of rocks, not sand, so that was really weird. After that we started walking towards the Brighton Marina when we noticed that there were quite a lot of motorcycles. Apparently there was some sort of motorcycle festival going on....the highlight of which (for me at least) was the motorcycle hearse and the pastor who drove it!!! (he also does weddings in case you're wondering). We talked to him for a bit and got our pictures riding on the bike (not sitting in the hearse side car). He told me to save up my money so that when I die, he can take his bike over to America and drive me (i know....kind of a morbid thought) More walking and lots of lamenting over how early everything closes down.....especially on a sunday. After getting some chips (as in fries..) we decided to walk back, not before checking out the pavilion at night. Getting back to the Brighton station we found we had to wait and then we decided to get back on another train...good thing too, because as we were transferring onto the tube, there came an announcement that that was the last tube leaving out of that station....but then we had to transfer, only to find that the connecting station had already closed down for the night, so we had our first taxi ride in london.... not too bad. After another deliriously hilarious night, I fell asleep watching Baseball. Apparently all the channels play some sport or another after 1 AM. I was happy to come across MLB...even though we concluded that it was a really old game that they were just showing a tape of. Oh well...it was American. And I discovered my favorite baseball player: Coco Crisp. Go him. Well thats it for today. Check for uploaded pictures of this excursion soon¬

Random observations about London: Not to be whining at all, just casual observations on the differences.
-The speedof light must be slower, because everytime I flip a light switch it takes 5 minutes for the light to appear.
-Their keyboards are different....and its going to screw me up
-You know you're in England when: the spell check on word underlines "color" and makes you replace it with "colour"
-The Tube: so much more efficient than the El
-Come on guys.....the three prong plugs??? Ridiculous
-Theatre=Amazing!!!
-There is no such thing as a rainy day....maybe a few hours where it rains, but then clears up....not so much an entire day
-I know its just the nature of my trip, but I have cards for everything: Membership cards for FSU and ISH, Cards for the tube and bus, cards for National Rail, my ISIC card, Cards with people's numbers on them, cards for restaurants and coffee shops, cards galore!!!! I don't have enough pockets for all of them in my hanging wallet.....its card overflow!!! Pretty soon I'm getting my oystercard too!
-Addition of my list of american things to send me in a package: Ice Cube Tray!!! I like cold drinks....they do not.
-Another addition to the food list: Grape Jelly, I had a hankerin' for it today.
-Sometimes they are left side domininant, but the sidewalk is a free-for-all of direction.
-The city makes you paranoid of pickpockets, i'm so over protective about it, I protest everytime someone bumps into me because I think that they are trying to pick pocket me.

Thats all for now...Ta!

Okay.....In an attempt to break up the length of my entry i have decided to make a part 2. Where I describe what I did today, because, frankly I did a lot and if I tried to tack it onto the other post, it would have been epic. So today. After playing the snooze game again....stefanie and I like our sleep, we woke up, took a shower and got ready. We watched some more "top of the pops" and decided to head out for our adventures. Today was going to be deemed: Market Day.
We decided to hit the Borough Market and the Portobello Road Market...who knew what adventures would lie between!
We took the tube to the Borough market, all the way across the Thames. The market was amazing!!! it's been around since 1756 and there was so much, I didn't know what to do. Everywhere there were delicious morsels such as cheese, bread, wine, fruit, dessert, meat, seafood, any kind of food you could imagine (as long as it was fresh!). Stefanie and I bought some cheese, bread and juice for our flat and then bought ourselves chicken burgers for lunch.... covered in hot mustard, salad greens...and salsa! it was so so so good though. After that, and after the rain that had started (its okay, its a covered market.) ended, we decided to take our spoils back to the flat. Speaking of spoils, in between rounds through all of the stalls at the market (and all of the delicious samples!!! mmmmmmm). Stefanie and I happened upon the Golden Hinde. That good folks was Sir Francis Drake's ship. for £3 we got to go on and play pirates. There was much swashbuckling to be done and many fun pictures to be taken. At one point I crawled out of a hole on a cannon to take a picture from the outside of the ship. Speaking of pictures....I filled up the first album on photobucket. Look at the first one for a few new pictures as well as at:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b285/duinlondon2/
There are many fun pirate-esque pictures as well as pictures of the Winchester cathedral that we also happened upon.
After our flat we took to the Portobello road market. The largest market in London. It was HUGE! and they do this every saturday! There were clothes, food, antiques, anything you could think of....it was awesome.
In case you don't know Portobello road market is set in an adorable little neighborhood known as Notting Hill. As you may know there was also a movie of the same name. So post market, Stefanie and I set out on a quest for things we could recognize from the movie. We found: The Travel Book Shop (Hugh Grant's place of employment), The coffee shop where Hugh buys an orange juice that he spills on Julia Roberts, and the park that they break into. Pictures were taken....it was quite a lovely adventure.
After that, we went to Cafe Nerro, a little coffee shop and sucked down Ice Mochas and did homework. Stefanie worked on her outline and I finished off Great Expectations...it was actually really really good. Way to go Dickens!
That brings me to now where I'm burning picture cds and what not. Tomorrow: Its off to Brighton to frolic on the beach and eat candy floss and check out the Royal Pavilion. All right. I'm off!

Sooo....i'm sure you all have been waiting in anticipation (again, I always address this crazy audience that I'm not sure even exists...) as to what I did Thursday. If you survived the Bible of an entry I made last time, you know that I was leaving you all hanging as to my fun adventures... I will try and make this entry a tad shorter and more digestable (although I have to admit that there will again be mention of food...sorry in advance!)
Anyway, Thursday began as most of our days have began...with me and Stefanie having a battle of the snooze button and getting up later than we usually plan to. After getting up, getting a bite to eat and doing a little bit of shopping we met up with the crew at the FSU centre (pretty much base of operations for everything we do). From here we hopped on our friend the tube and rode out to meet up with Anton Powell. Quite a distinguished British professor if I do say so. Dominican hires him to come down/over from Wales to give us (just us!) a walking tour of London. He is a professor of Greek and Roman history and his tour around London showed us all of the old evidence of Londinium and ended at the Museum of London where we saw the oldest use of the name London and the coin that helped archeologists determine how old there has been a settlement in London of some sorts. Seeing these ruins really gave me an appreciation of how much older of a city and a country this is as opposed to our thoroughly modern country that I normally call my home. Theres that whole appreciation of a different culture that study abroad is supposed to instill.
During this tour it was decided that we should see a play later that night. Allison, our kick butt coordinator said that she would take me, Stefanie, and Nekesa to the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square to go get tickets to "As you like it" starring Sienna Miller because it was closing next week. On the bus ride over there, Ryan, our director calls and says that he has extra tickets to the show....3 to be exact. So, we got to go for free. Since we had time to spare and we were uber hungry, we decided to gorge ourselves at Pizza Hut with copious amounts of greasy food (but we did have fondue there AND I got to eat marshmallows which made my day...) Anyway, back to the show Not only did it star mrs. jude law, it more importantly starred Dominic West, you might remember him from "Mona Lisa's Smile" and "Midsummer Nights Dream" Anyway....he's super dreamy. The show was awesomely hilarious, and I remembered why I love Shakespeare so darn much (Hence me being a theatre major I guess....) Anyway...
Afterwards we were standing around waiting for stefanie to go to the bathroom when I noticed across from me:Papparazzi!!! So I decided that I was going to be ironic and funny and take a picture of them. I don't know if they were joking with me or what not, but they returned the favor and took a picture of me (thats right, the papparazzi took a picture of me!!) They were waiting for sienna miller to come out. All of a sudden, there was a huge rush as she ran out of the front of the theatre and hopped into a car and sped away. The papparazzi was trying to get into the car with her! it was crazy! After that we decided to linger outside of the stage door and meet various people as they came out.....no major stars...but some HOT ones! (see my photo album!) It was so much fun. Stefanie and I were so hyper the whole night. We went back to FSU to check our e-mail (our nightly custom) and were having fun meeting people in the computer lab. After that we went back to our flat and had a giggly good time.

UNTIL.....
Two of the people that are on our trip knocked on our door (it was 2 am) and said that they think someone broke into their apartment while they were gone and wanted us to go into the room with them. I threw on a sweatshirt and some shoes and went with them. On the way I grabbed a fire extinguisher (it seemed a likely weapon......if the occaision should require one.) We walked into their room....well actually they unlocked it and then I kicked it open cop movie style. To find their window open and their blinds messed up (they live in the basement). Upon making sure the room was clear of people, the damage was assessed. It turns out that 2 digital cameras and a wallet were stolen and there was a huge muddy footprint on the bed. There were many tears shed. It was really a scary moment for everyone. I feel very lucky and fortunate that Stefanie and I have a room on the 3rd floor. Nevertheless we lock our window anyway (that was the problem....their room's window lock was broke). Stefanie and I stayed up with them while they waited for the police and the housing people. We dealt with problems the british way, that is...made a cup of tea. Despite the circumstances, there were some good conversations had by everyone involved as we waited. Finally at 4 or 5 am, Stefanie and I went to bed, but offered the two girls our room to crash in so that they could be safe for the night. In the morning we woke up to them bringing us breakfast in thanks...and flowers to brighten up our room. Needless to say, due to the lack of sleep, Stefanie and I didn't go Brighton on Friday like we planned.
Instead I slept in, got a stomach ache from the grease fest and the late hours and read a sizeable portion of "Great Expectation" 2/3 to be exact.
This entry is long, so i'm going to cut it short and inform you of today's events in another entry.

hello all!!! Everything is still going smashing here in the UK (they keep talking about how we're all in the 'honeymoon' phase of homesickness and what not but I feel I'll never come out of that stage!) It seems that I'm able to pack so much more into one day than I do at DU.....thats going to make for a nice transition come December. Anyway, you don't read this to hear about my homesickness or lack there of (although, everyonce in awhile I miss talking to my mom! and its so darn expensive) So I shall continue with the play by play on what I've done. Let me tell you , this is hard for me to do because we cram soooo much into one day that its hard to remember what day we did what. This will certainly come in handy later, once alzheimer's sets in or something like that.
Tuesday morning I had a meeting with Ryan, the London director where we talked about questions I had (most of which were actually about cricket...a sport I'm trying to understand because of all the hype on the Ashes and what not) After that I decided to explore the city so I wandered around for a bit first going to the British museum which is right down the street from school. That Place is HUGE!!!!! I was only able to do 2 sections of it...the enlightenment and the egypt section. I got to see the actual Rosetta stone...>THE rosetta stone. I also got to see all sorts of egyptian statues and mummies, quite cool. I really used to be into that stuff around 6th grade so it was really cool to see all of the stuff that I saw in books in real life. After that I had lunch in the pub across the street with some friends and had quite an experience. So, when I went up to the bar to order I noticed that they had this beer on tap that my mom had suggested called: Old Peculiar. As is customary in this country, I decided that I was going to have a Pub lunch with a pint (i know....its really strange!!!) when I ordered that drink, the bartender looked at me and asked me if I've ever had one. I hadn't so he asked me if I'd like to try it first....I did and then he goes, that's the strongest one we've got!!! Needless to say it was a pintless lunch. And this is from my mum who says to stay away from the cider because it's for soccer hooligans!
After that, I went on what I like to call: The Quest for the Cookie.
I was fancying a cookie post my meal of jacket potatoes covered in chili (chili-now there is a thing they do MUCH differently, jacket potatoes are pretty much a baked potato by the way). So I decided to go for a walk, determined on finding a little bakery or something to satisfy my cookie jonesin'. I walked all the way to Covent Garden (probably my favorite spot in the city). Along the way I walked down all of these small little side streets discovering the beauty and charm of the city and seeing what sort of goodies awaited me around each corner. Leah, you'll be pleased to know that there is a MAC store here in London and I now know where it is...more reason for you to visit..... Anyway, I'm in Covent Garden now, watching the same street performer who was here the day before riding atop a 10 ft unicycle juggling a pin, an apple and a machete (quite a feat, let me tell you!). Anyway upon wandering, I discover the answer to my prayers....a cookie mecca if you will. Tucked away in a corner of one of the markets is: Ben's Cookies!! It's a very tiny store, but they pack a punch! I got the milk chocolate cookie, which was like a chocolate chip cookie which contained a melted milk chocolate core!! It was amazing! and most certainly filled that cookie void in my stomach...and my heart!
After that we had a lecture for three hours in this really small, dark room.....it was quite a battle to stay awake post cookie nirvana, but I managed AND I managed to learn quite a bit about British architecture. I would like to thank my Theatre History for providing me with quite the background on it as well, I actually recognized names and places from the slides that accompanied this lecture (see mom and dad? the education that I'm getting IS applicable to daily life.....in London....)
After the lecture we all went to see the play, "The U.N. Inspector" at the National Theatre. On the way there I just happened to walk through Covent Garden again (it really is my favorite place) This time on the hunt for dinner. I happened by: The West Cornwall Pasty Co. where they sell: Pasties!! that delectable cornish treat. Now...my only experience with pasties was in Alaska when kyle and I made post Thanksgiving pasties with leftovers which were quite delicious and quite warming and filling for those cold alaskan nights. Here in London I had a Chicken Balty (Indian food) pasty which was delicious! It kept full all through the play that was full of social commentary and that ever lovable British sense of humor. The play was a loose adaptation of the play "the government inspector" by Gobel.....check it out. More wandering around followed the play.
The next morning we all met up to take a walk (we do quite a bit of that!!!) to the International Student House (we call it the ISH). This is a place where students from all over the world can convene and they have a gym and a bar and a coffee shop and a little shop that sells food from around the world (in case you're feeling homesick and want some 'real' food) For us Yanks they had Oreos and Jif Peanut butter, two rarities on the UK front. If anyone would like to send a care package...it could contain the following items (this is by no means a hint.....welll actually it might be.):
Marshmallows
Graham Crackers (so i can make s'mores)
Jif peanut butter
Chewing Gum
Thats about it....the British do some of our food quite differently (don't get me started on the Milkshake I had the other day.....) but I'm adjusting to that quite nicely. I think it was the abundance of s'mores materials this summer that has caused the longing for them now when I can't have them....oh well. Any way, the ISH was a really awesome place, they put on different events and also plan trips to go on...definately a good resource (plus they have a massage therapist who does cheap deep tissue massage, which would feel nice after all of this walking!!!).
After the ISH house we all skedaddled out of there to go to Wagamama...this amazing Japanese noodle bar (Time out....i just realized that I sure do talk about food a whole lot on here.....I really do more than eat...its just that the food is so good here. And I don't eat out all the time....I promise, really I live off of french bread and butter (the danish kind mom that we have at home...except the spreadable version!!!) I apologize for all the food comments guys!) Anyway, us being the thrifty students that we are, went to Wagamama with 2 for 1 coupons that we got from the magazine Time Out....go saving money...food was really good! After that I had my first real london public transit experience on a double decker bus. We were riding out to Westminster Abbey. I would just like to say, that that place is full of dead people!!!!! You can't walk without stepping on someone's grave...seriously! there are 3000 people buried beneath the church in its vaults...and I don;t think that counts the tombs that are above ground.......creepy!!!! It is a beautiful church however..>AMAZING actually. Its so big and so old. Lovely. I also got to see poet's corner and really a ton of famous people's graves. PS: Chaucer was a very very very short man....I saw his tomb. After that I had my second London public transit system experience getting to ride the tube......It's like the EL+ On the first line that we got on (which happened to be the wrong one...oh well) there was a group of people playing instruments....a mandolin and a violin to be exact....and they were playing irish music. I wish it wasn't the wrong train so I could have stayed to listen. The destination our of tube ride: Notting Hill and Portobello Road. I really think this trip was inspired by A. Trying to find the Travel Book Shop from the movie 'Notting Hill' and B. the movie 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' (Theres a song about portobello road). We got there at the tail end of the market but we did find some pretty groovy (do people still use that word?) retro clothing stores as well as some super cheap stores to buy all sorts of wares....there will most certainly be some return trips to that spot. The night was finished off with some (of course) delicious food at this cute little mediterranean restaurant where I had some spinach, feta, and olive pizza/pita.....
After that we went to Tesco to pick up some stuff for our flat (yay toilet paper!!) and then called it a night.
Well I really want to tell you about what I did today, but......this is super long and I'm starting to get tired, so you know what? It will just have to wait, it'll be suspenseful....Tomorrow the roomie (or flattie??) and I are going to hop onto a train and go to Brighton to partake in its lovely beaches (yeah, thats right, no school on Fridays!!!!). I will update you all later!!!
God Bless!!!

Yesterday we went on a cruise of sorts down the Thames river where we got to see everything that is along that river, and let me tell you...thats a lot! We saw the Tower of London, the Globe, the Eye of London, Big Ben, London Bridge, all sorts of bridges to be exact. It was a ton of fun and the guides that we had (who weren't actually guides, but crewmen on the ship) were hilarious. Definately gave me a taste of and appreciation for the British sense of humor.
Today I'm experiencing traditional London weather.....foggy and spitting rain. I guess we were quite lucky those first few days when we had a bit of sunshine.
On today's agenda: I'm going to wander around this grey city for awhile, make some purchases, eat some lunch and then we are having a lecture on British buildings and what not....
Tonight: My first taste of British Theatre!!!!!! We're going to the National Theatre to see "The U.N. Inspector" Should be good times~ well I am off....enjoy your days!

All right...after an exhausting time uploading photos to the internet (for some reason when I was typing/thinking that I was talking in a scottish accent in my head.....weird...) Anyway without further ado....there is a whole lot of picture of my adventures (not captioned or anything yet) located here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b324/DUinLondon/
Go there...and see what all the hype is about.

So the thought crossed my mind that you all (i'm really writing to an invisible audience aren't I?) might want to make yourselves visible by sending me some mail....You could also leave a comment on here so that I know someone reads this thing and I'm not just typing for my health. Anyway....any mail (not packages, just mail....) can be sent to:
My Name
Janet Poole House
105 Gower St
London WC1
United Kingdom

If you wish to talk to me live you can call my mobile phone that number is:
7914216877 you have do the international dialing code....44 before calling

Packages can be sent to:
My Name
FSU London Study Centre
99 Great Russell Street
London WC1b 3LA
United Kingdom

Care packages are gladly accepted.
Thanks!

So...as seems to be the theme, I shall tell you about yesterday.
Yesterday was our first full introduction to the city of London. The whole lot of us met up here at the Florida State University center (where I have run into students from Grinnell college...crazy Iowans....) to take a chartered coach tour of the city. The bus was horribly late and it was hot so we started our tour on the sidewalk. Our tour guide Suze was the most delightful yet sassy woman. She is what I imagine when I think of an English grandmother. She was incredibly well versed in the city of London and offered all sorts of tidbits as to what to eat (and what NOT to eat) as well as where to go and the history of the like. She did not tolerate people talking whilst she was talking to us, she also was quite politically savvy and gave us her views on those issues. We did get to go on the Millenium Bridge or the "Wobbly Bridge" (imagine an accent) that was really cool...I saw the Globe theatre. I also saw Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Buckingham Palace....pretty much the entire city from a tourists view...in one day. I will most definately be returning to visit those spots.
Once returning, Stefanie and I made dinner....well Stefanie cooked while I went out to go and try to buy more groceries. Emphasis on try. Here in England, groceries stores close at 6 on Sundays. Crazy Brits!!!! The spaghetti was delicious however despite the lack of french bread.
After the movie, Stefanie and I watched some British TV (Top of the Pops!) and then came back down to the FSU center to watch Notting Hill in their lecture theatre. Seriously, I got so much more of that movie after having lived here only 3 days.
After that we walked on home to try and go to bed early only to discover that one of my all time favorite movies, Gattaca was just starting on the TV. One note about British television:I could never feel homesick because there is so much American programming on the TV. This morning I watched Will and Grace and Futurama. Thats right, that was their early morning programming. Another bonus of brit TV.....less commercials. In the movie last night there were only 4 commercial breaks for the whole thing....that I can live with.
This morning we had more orientation and what not and talked about housing and safety....pickpockets are everywhere! or so i am led to believe. better safe than sorry though right luv? Currently I'm on lunch break. I'm going to head over to my local grocer: TESCO! (my good friend David used to work there!) to pick up some lunch. Then today we are going on a cruise type tour of the city...oh to be a tourist, how I love it!! Be forewarned that there will be some massive photo postage coming up.....
Well, I'm off like a dirty shirt, talk to you later!

Okay....since I left you hanging on what i did yesterday....I shall now fill you in on what I did. Due to jetlag or something or other (i assure you it was not the drinking, because Stefanie my roommate slept longer than I did! and she didn't have a drop) Stefanie and I woke up at 4pm. Yes thats right.....4 in the afternoon. Our first full day in London and we sleep through most of it. Shame on us. Really though, I think we needed it. Everyone in the entire group woke up sometime between 1 and 4 so we didn't feel THAT bad. Crazy jet lag.... Anyway, upon returning from slumberland we decided that since our grocery mission failed the previous night that 4pm was a much more reasonable hour to go grocery shopping. How I love Tesco. A wedge of brie is only £1 so its official...I'm living off of brie and crackers for the remainder of my trip...perhaps I shall throw in a can of sardines..and of course a cuppa or brew (both slangs for tea mind you). Grocery shopping was quite productive but we decided to explore the eating options in our neighborhood. We found a street full of semi-pricey italian and indian restaurants....but i did not feel like shelling over a whole lotta pounds for food....or at least that was the plan. I just happened to sight a Mexican restaurant across the street....thats right mexican in merry olde England....
So yeah....the English...don't do Mexican so well, or so cheap.
Don't get me wrong, the chips and salsa were great. And the Mango, Brie (!) and Jalapeno "quesadilla" was delicious, but totally not filling (four little rolls for £7.50!!!!) Oh well...you live and learn. After that we decided to....explore.
I think originally we were looking/aiming for Piccadilly Circus....which we got to by way of Leiscester Square, Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and the like. It was actually quite a nice little tour of the area. We then tried to walk to Buckingham palace and kind of veered off of our way. Highlights of the whole lost experience: St. Jame's Palace, The Royal Courts of Justice, Walking down Fleet Street while having me sing the entire soundtrack (or at least the title song) of the musical Sweeney Todd (he was the demon barber of fleet...........street, rent the movie), Going into the army/navy club and talking to the man at the desk. Being at Piccadilly at night~gorgeous, going to a pub called "the coal hole", Joe's cigarettes that declared on one side: "SMOKING KILLS" (they are quite direct) and the other side stating "Smoking cigarettes reduces blood pressure and may cause impotence" Best way to sell cigarettes EVER! Sitting at the coal hole was an enjoyable experience, talking about musical tastes and just having a wonderful time. All was great...until:
We tried to get back.
We weren't lost persay, we just didn't know where we were or what direction we were to be headed. We had taken such a wimbly wambly way to get where we were that we didn't know how we got there. Thanks to my fold out map and the London A-Z (pronounced Zed) we eventually found our way back after realizing that we had pretty much done an entire loop around our area of living (we're talking a MASSIVE loop.....with like 5 mile radius) That's right, I got some walking in.
On the way back we got some pizza (our mexican just wasn't that filling) while waiting at the Pizza shop, we got talked to by some Scots (well, one scot and a guy from yorkshire) about American politics and what was wrong with Americans. He was a really nice guy but it was hard explaining to him that not all Americans think the same....definately a good time though.
After pizza, we watched this horribly frightening movie on the BBC called "Fear" it had Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg in it. Because of that movie, I never want to date someone again...why? because they will turn out to be psycho and try to kill my family!!!!
I shall try to fill you in on today's events tomorrow...because, well tonight...I'm ready to go to bed. tomorrow I start class and I have to be there at 9:30....and I have been having way too many late nights....something about being on a schedule that is 6 hours behind. Well....Cheers all!

This is the first night. Okay, so it is time for my first real post from here in London. Yes, I know, I had one earlier, but frankly, I figured I could do better than that. Plus that one was on the first day when I hadn't done much besides not sleep and ingest some delicious Greek food (who knew lamb was such a big thing...) Now however I have done quite a bit....well a bit. Friday we moved into our flats after getting picked up at the airport...I live on what they call the 2nd floor, which we actually call the 3rd floor...and there are no elevators...or lifts as the brits refer to them. It was quite an experience hauling a 71 lb. suitcase up three flights of the narrowest stairs possible...oh well...I still had my "I worked in a horse barn hauling saddles for a week" muscles....so I was all right. After settling in and what not and buying phones and what not (my mobile number shall be posted later) we all decided to hit our first pub. Located conveniently 'round the block is the Marlborough Arms, a charming little pub. Stefanie (my roommate who is a bit confused as to the correct spelling of her name) and I were a tad late because we fell asleep and everyone left, a common theme as you shall discover. Anyway...upon bellying up to the bar, I found it time to order my first English drink. What did I pick you ask? Well...unlike my cohorts who were sucking down budweisers and guinesses (safe choices I guess for a Yank...) I decided to order a Cider. I know mom, you told me not to. But upon returning to the table with my delicious apple concoction, I started a trend. For the rest of the night, all the ladies ordered Cider....thats right...the Cider House Rules. Once 11pm rolled around and last call at this particular establishment was rang by bell we moved on to another pub (or this one might have been a bar) called the Pint Pot. Two more Ciders (and one dropped on my foot by someone on the trip) and we called it a night. Upon exiting, I had a sudden urge to go grocery shopping...at 1 AM. But oh Tesco...why must you not keep late night hours??? Oh well....a nice walk down Tottenham Court Road found me and my companions lots of people milling about and best of all....CURRY!!! I had my first English Curry, a moment I was looking forward to. It came in a container much like gladware which was half full of rice and the other half filled with that delicious spicey treat. To top it off I had an Apple Tango soda (thats right, apple pop) which whilst i was walking down the london streets balancing it on my head got knocked off by a cheeky brit (don't worry, his friend apologized for his actions) Once we returned to the action at the flat, we watched an episode of Desperate Housewives....thats right, I've never watched the show in the States but...there's quite a bit of American influence on British TV. The other day I watched the Addams Family Reunion. Good times. Well I'm off to take a Bus tour of the city now. later on I'll tell you about getting lost in the city last night......FUN times. Cheeers!